January 3, 2011

MediaBistro
A recent work by journalist Tony Reynolds, focused on Sarah Palin’s potential run for the White House, is one of the first to utilize Amazon’s “digital single” format for the Kindle.

Dianna Dilworth reports that the short book format, originally announced in October, is designed to include works of 10,000 to 30,000 words, or about 30 to 90 pages.

Reynolds’ book, “The Sarah Palin Rogue Revolution, Taking America by Storm” sells for $3.99 on Amazon.com, compared to $9.99 for a typical full-length e-book on the Kindle.

The digital single format has some potential for magazines or newspapers looking to distribute longer, or investigative, works that first appeared in print. In fact, the Amazon.com description of the Palin book reads more like a blog post promo than a full-length novel:

“The question of the day is this: Will Governor Sarah Palin run for President in 2012? This book answers that question and:
– gives the reader 7 indicators they can use to answer it themselves.
– shows a scenario where Rosie O’Donnell might campaign for Sarah Palin
– answers the question, is she qualified to run for President?”

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